Since its inception in 2005, the Scotiabank Baycrest Pro-Am has raised over $27 million to support Baycrest, a global leader in brain health and aging. The Pro-Am is North America’s premier on ice hockey tournament, the largest of its kind, with over 500 players who take to the ice each year to help support research, education, care and innovation in the fields of Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
We are changing the future of brain health
As the population ages, the number of people with dementia or cognitive impairment in Canada is expected to almost double to about 1.4 million by 2031.
At Baycrest, our work helps to preserve and extend the cognitive and emotional well-being of older adults.
Donors to the Baycrest Foundation play a critical role in keeping Baycrest running because government funding only makes up about 64% of revenues.
Contributions to the Foundation help support research on brain health and aging, education and stimulating programs that make life more meaningful for seniors at Baycrest and in the community.
Where do the funds go?
Scotiabank Pro-Am supports critical Alzheimer’s research
Research plays a vital role in the battle against Alzheimer’s, a devastating disease. For 15 years, sponsors, participants and donors of the Scotiabank Pro-Am for Alzheimer’s have actively invested in world-class Alzheimer’s disease research at Baycrest. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacting vulnerable seniors, including those with Alzheimer’s, this research is more important than ever. Funds continue to be needed to support research and innovation that will have a meaningful impact on the lives of those with Alzheimer’s and their loved ones. Currently, funds raised through the Pro-Am support five leading researchers and their critical work.
- Dr. Cheryl Grady studies early changes to the hippocampus, a brain structure that plays an important role in memory, and how it relates to normal aging and Alzheimer’s.
- Dr. Randy McIntosh uses “The Virtual Brain” – an innovative platform he and his colleagues developed that captures details of the brain’s structure and function through brain imaging data – to create personalized assessments of patients to help guide diagnosis and care.
- Dr. Bernhard Ross studies brain functions underlying hearing and speech communication. His work examines the impact and relationship between hearing function and cognition and could help predict the early onset of dementia.
- Dr. Jennifer Ryan’s research uses eye tracking as a tool to investigate memory and how it changes as we age. She has developed tests that may be used in clinical or community settings to provide a rapid assessment of brain health, and to detect Alzheimer’s disease long before symptoms emerge.
- Dr. Stephen Strother’s research includes the development of computer systems and software for clinical-research data collection, storage, retrieval and analysis that enable and accelerate research discoveries in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
About Baycrest
Headquartered on a 22-acre campus and fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, Baycrest is unique in the world, combining a comprehensive system of care for aging adults and one of the world’s top research institutes in cognitive neuroscience (the Rotman Research Institute). Baycrest’s dedicated centres focus on mitigating the impact of age-related illness and impairment, and offer unmatched global knowledge exchange and commercialization capacity.
- Baycrest incorporates a history and tradition of elder care that dates back almost a century. Baycrest is home to the Rotman Research Institute (RRI), one of the world’s top cognitive brain health research institutes.
- Baycrest is rethinking brain health and aging – and working to realize a vision of a world in which people can age in the setting of their choice while maintaining their cognitive, emotional and physical well-being.
- Baycrest is home to the new Canadian Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation, a truly transformative made- in-Canada venture aimed at tackling the challenges facing older adults and turning frontline ideas for senior’s care into reality.
The Baycrest Foundation supports programs and services that promote excellence in care, research, innovation and education in aging and brain health. For more information, visit baycrestfoundation.org
Our reach into our community and beyond
- 1,800+ staff members
- 2,000 volunteers
- 1,200 older adults served each day
- 1,500+ students trained every year
- 550+ nurses trained each year
- 472 bed nursing home
- 262 bed hospital-complex continuing care and rehabilitation
- 120 suites (independent living facility)
- 190 suites (our assisted living facility)